| Topic: |
Politics > Politics-USA |
| User: |
"Harry Hope" |
| Date: |
21 Oct 2003 08:26:50 AM |
| Object: |
Republicans keep backin' away from Georgie. Maybe the kid's got measles. |
From The Washington Post, 10/21/03:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A56064-2003Oct20.html
To Some in GOP, Bush's Troubles Become a Liability
By Juliet Eilperin and David S. Broder
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, October 21, 2003; Page A01
COLUMBUS JUNCTION, Iowa --
Dave Boyd, sipping a Busch Light in his lawn chair as Rep. Jim Leach
(R-Iowa) approached, was troubled.
As a production operator at an auto interiors shop in Iowa City, he
worried about the Bush administration's bid to revamp the nation's
overtime rules.
"I think it would cut into our income quite a bit," Boyd said of the
plan, which would make some middle-income workers ineligible for
overtime pay.
"I voted against it," replied Leach, who was attending the town's
annual Columbus Day parade.
"The theory of those who advocate it is that it gives management more
flexibility."
But "lots of people would be affected by it" negatively.
Until recently, few Republican lawmakers would be so quick to distance
themselves from President Bush.
But the president's approval ratings have fallen sharply since April,
the nation's job growth remains sluggish and large numbers of
Americans feel the nation is putting too much money -- and not enough
wise planning -- into Iraq.
Although many Republicans are optimistic that Bush will win reelection
next year, all nonretiring House members (and a third of senators)
have their own 2004 reelection campaigns to worry about.
Some GOP incumbents -- especially those in the several dozen House
districts that Democrat Al Gore carried or nearly won in 2000 -- are
showing an increasing willingness to vote against key White House
initiatives and to reassure constituents that they think and act
independently of the president.
Leach was among 21 Republicans who joined most Democrats when the
House voted 221 to 203 to bar the administration from implementing the
overtime revisions.
Scores of Republicans bucked the White House by voting to overturn a
Federal Communications Commission rule making media mergers easier,
and several also voted, against Bush's wishes, to allow the
importation of prescription drugs from Canada and other countries.
___________________________________________________________
Republican congressfolks sense the melting of the Pretender-In-Chief.
Harry
.
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